


Guilt Edged Frame

by thousandyearwitch



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Blood and Gore, Canon Backstory, Canon-Typical Violence, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Mild Gore, Nightmares only actually, squint for potential kakuhidan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:41:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29028123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thousandyearwitch/pseuds/thousandyearwitch
Summary: “Dreams don’t mean anything, Hidan, they are just your tiny brain trying to process what you did the previous day.”Of course, he would dream that night. Hidans idiocy must really be contagious.------------Short exploration of what kind of Nightmares might be haunting Kakuzu
Relationships: Hidan & Kakuzu (Naruto)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Guilt Edged Frame

“’Kuzu, I had a really weird dream, listen to this-“Hidans voice distracted Kakuzu briefly from wincing at the terrible quality of their complementary coffee that the Inn offered, though he only replied with a low grumble at the back of his throat.

“So, I was at the beach, and for some reason I started walking into the water, which, like, I don’t even fucking like swimming.”

“Mh.” He thought about anything else he could do instead of humouring his partners need for conversation.

“But get this: Instead of like, swimming, I just continued walking along the bottom of the ocean, as if there wasn’t even any water. And the deeper I went, the more I started seeing corpses tied to big rocks and concrete slabs.” Kakuzu idly tried to recall if he had ever seen that kind of disposal. It would certainly shut Hidan up for a while. But alas, he had neither rope, nor large rock, nor a deep enough body of water, and the shorter man continued. “It was super gross, some of them were like getting nibbled on by fishes, and they were all bloated. And when I tried to touch one of them, suddenly all of their eyes and necks snapped in my direction with a loud _CRACK_ -“   
As he banged on the table to emphasize, the few other patrons of the Inn turned with a startle.

The older one of the pair pushed his chair back, hissed a quick “We’re leaving.” before discarding his cup, headed for the exit. They had a good amount of distance to clear today, and he doubted that they could continue sitting there in peace now that Hidan drew increasing attention with his rambling.   
The morning sun greedily sunk into the exposed parts of Kakuzus face, and he allowed himself a brief moment to close his eyes and take the warmth in. Something about the sounds and smells of this village carried a familiar feeling with it. Children playing games that been passed on from generation to generation, giggling with ecstasy. A nearby shop selling local spices, a particular one that Kakuzu couldn’t quite place, sweet and yet with a spicy punch-

The moment of peace was over as a flat palm patted against his shoulder. “Are you falling asleep standing up, old man?”

“I was pondering if its worth a try to dispose of you via stone slab in a lake.” They fell into a comfortable walking pace next to each other, headed for the thickening forest to the south.

“You don’t think those could have been other jashinists, do you? Doomed to become the fish-equivalent of a saltlick.”

The pair passed a group of four young women huddled together on a bench, eyeing Hidan and whispering amongst each other. The younger man winked at them with his signature shit-eating grin, and the group broke out into a mixture of giggles and ‘No way~’s. Kakuzu rolled his eyes so hard that for a second he was sure they’d snap back into his skull entirely.

“When I was a kid, there were always some girls who claimed they could analyse your dreams. Same bitches who’d ask about your star sign and blood type before laughing and saying shit like ‘Oh I totally knew it, that’s such an Aries thing~’” Hidan flapped his hand around in crude mockery of any teenage girl ever. Kakuzu couldn’t repress a dark chuckle forcing itself through his vocal cords. Some things never change, including some peoples craving to have special psychic abilities. “Maybe I should have stopped to ask them what my dream last night meant.”

“Dreams don’t mean anything, Hidan, they are just your tiny brain trying to process what you did the previous day.”

“Don’t be such a pretentious cunt! I’m sure you dream of diving into a pool of money every night.” Particularly proud of that one, he flashed a self-satisfied grin at his partner.

And Kakuzu left it at that, willing to let Hidan uphold that childish belief if it meant he’d finally shut up.

He’d been alive for too long now to be occupied with something as meaningless as his brains idle thought processing. Most his nights were a dreamless unconsciousness that could occasionally be considered ‘resting’, and he preferred it this way. No distractions, no unnecessary ‘dream analysis’, just a cold dark embrace.

* * *

Of course, he would dream that night. Hidans idiocy must really be contagious.

Kakuzu was back home in Takigakure, on a beautiful sunny morning. He could smell the fish market not far from where he stood, and the natural high moisture in the air felt refreshing. His skin was still intact, only minor scarring here and there, childhood memories that are meant to mark you, meant to remind you of an innocent time. There was no cracking of bones or resistance of hardened skin when he moved, careful steps through the alleys he grew up in.

Passing a window, Kakuzu glanced at his reflection. Youthful eyes, and dark brown hair that was starting to brush over his shoulders. His fingers run gently over his cheeks to the corners of his mouth, as if something were missing, but he couldn’t quite place what. 

A group of children, 10 years old at the most, run past him with excited shouts and laughs. If he were to concentrate, maybe he could recall their names lingering at the tip of his tongue.

The young boy wants to follow them, as if he knew what got them excited, but he stumbles and falls and his hands burry themselves in the wet mud – The sun was just shining, why is there suddenly hard rain beating down on him? Fresh tattoos on his arm sting under contact with the rain, and he knows where he got them, suddenly remembers solitary and imprisonment and the older man who wielded the unsanitary make-shift tattoo equipment.

Lightning flashes and Kakuzu doesn’t need to look to know that blood and mud are mixing on his arms. His wet hair, now easily reaching the bottom of his shoulder blades in length, clings uncomfortably to his skin. He feels like he’s boiling alive, can feel sutures manifesting where they didn’t exist before, a phantom needle pricking along his arms and chest. It’s not mending broken skin, not trying to close festering wounds. It’s opening gateways for the bubbling heat under his skin.

Another lighting flash. His right fist is no longer buried in mud. Instead, it holds a steady grasp around a still beating heart, warm, intact, alive. He’s still at home in Takigakure but he knows it rejects him. The owner of the beating heart is a village elder who the man used to look up to, but now he’s looking down at the choking form, his last words for Kakuzus ears only, curses and banishment.

But the old man doesn’t die. His airways are flooded with his own blood, but he grabs Kakuzus neck with a strength he somehow knows he can’t overpower. He’s flipped into the mud, fist still clenched around the others beating heart, but it won’t yield. Despite the loud rain, and his own heart beating like a drum in his ears, he can hear the old mans voice crystal clear.

“Hashirama Senju should have killed you.”

His fingers grow numb.

“You could have died a hero’s death. You would have died for the village, fought till the end.”

The pressure on his windpipe increases, and his vision blurs.

“But you returned a failure. A disgusting nobody.”

His arms drop to his sides, cold and numb.

“Forever.”

* * *

Kakuzu startled awake with a gasp. His hair stuck to his forehead with cold sweat as he sat up, hands ghosting over where he had just been choked. It took a couple of deep breaths before he had regained his orientation. Rundown Inn in a Village of maybe a hundred people if he was being generous, he is a member of the Akatsuki, he’s lying in the hardest bed he has ever slept in, and Hidan is on the couch-

Hidan was on the couch, staring directly at him, eyes blown wide as if he had just witnessed the coming of whatever that ridiculous god he believed in was.

Their eye contact was long, uncomfortable, and made Kakuzus twitching fingers increasingly long to tear the other man to shreds. His partner gave him a slow nod with a questionable look, which he returned wordlessly, before he laid back down, turned away.

He didn’t get another second of sleep that night, opting instead to bite the inside of his cheek raw and thinking about various ways to silence Hidan if he dared to speak a word about what he may have seen. Maybe investing in rope wasn’t such a foolish idea.

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it this far, congrats, somehow you made it through this mess that i stitched together in 3 hours of procrastination for my exams <3 Never wrote Naruto fanfic before, maybe I never will again unless I continue to be crazed by Kakuzu fantasies and theres a demand.  
> Luv ya, take care xoxo


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